Trial and Error
by JeffersonBlackwell
Summary: The gang is heading for Cleveland post Season 7. Willow and Kennedy find themselves searching for answers as they both start having strange dreams. Is their love enough to pull them through? Or is it just not strong enough to save them in the end?
1. Chapter 1

As the gang loaded up onto the bus, Willow stood at the edge of the crater, her eyes scanning for any signs of life. She watched as rubble settled into place and the tremors in the ground halted to a stop. She exhaled deeply from her nose and let herself down onto the ground, sitting with her feet dangling from the edge. She stared at her swinging feet, the new, deep scuffs on her boots and the slight tear at the bottom of her pants. She played with a lump of dirt in her hands, the dust rubbing onto her fingers until it was gone.

Gone.

She felt like everything that she had ever known in the world was gone. Like she was looking at a mass grave of her entire life. Everything she had ever known was buried in hundreds of feet of rock and dust. Her home, her school, the parks, the trees. Tara. Tara was gone. There was no longer a grave to visit. There wasn't a familiar local coffee shop to sit in and reflect. And there wasn't a familiar perfume to spray or candle to burn.

As the tears began to well up in her eyes she remembered meeting Kennedy. The way she burst through all of her defenses with her brash phrases and her unrelenting and unforgiving eye contact. She made her smile when she wanted to cry. She held her when she was ready to run.

She was so lost in her thoughts that she almost forgot for a moment where she was until-

"Hey Will!" Buffy shouted out the bus doors, "We're all loaded up, let's go!"  
"In a minute!"

She was cut out of her thoughts and suddenly became aware of the pile of dirt and sand accumulating on her lap. She scoffed slightly and started brushing it off aggressively.

As she began to get up, lifting herself to one foot and turning to face the bus, another tremor hit, rattling the bus and shaking Willow off her feet. With a gasp and a shriek she felt her feet slip on the sandy edge, slip down, and-

Her shoulder suddenly jerked and her body slumped from the edge. She looked up and, in the glare of the sun, she saw her arm being puled up.

"Did you think I was going to let you fly away that easy, little kite?" Kennedy pulled her up and over the ledge with ease, leading her toward the bus.

"Oh my goddess!" Willow gasped, gripping onto Kennedy's upper arms with both hands, "How did you-"

"I felt the tremor in the ground before it hit and I wanted to make sure you were okay."  
"You felt it before it hit?"  
"Yeah," She smiled her winning smile, "I think it's a Slayer thing. Ever since you did the spell everyone is buzzing with energy. Even Buffy said she feels different- stronger. But Giles said that it will dull down as the spell settles in."  
"Oh… well… good. I think."

With a final grin Kennedy pulled Willow closer and led her onto the bus and headed straight for the back. Giles latched the doors shut and revved the engine.

"So have we figured out where we are going now?" Willow asked as she began taking her seat.

"Yeah, I think I heard something about pointing this rig for Cleveland. Giles apparently has been tracking a lot of demon activity and there is word of another Hellmouth becoming active up there. I don't really know the details, but I'm sure he and Buffy have some idea of what they are doing."  
"Sounds like them to me," Willow yawned.

"Tired?" Kennedy leans in and takes Willow's hand into hers.

"Yeah," she mumbles, "The spell. It's just sort of catching up to me I guess."  
"I can only imagine," she scoots down the long back seat and gestures for Willow to lay down. She leans her head back and lays in comfortably on the slayers legs. Letting out a sigh she fades to sleep.


	2. Chapter 2

Suddenly Willow jerked up to a sitting position, her forehead sweaty and her eyes glazed.

"Will! Are you okay?" Kennedy scoots closer to her and lays her lands on her shoulders.

"Yeah," Willow lets her legs down off the seat and turns to face her, "Bad dream I guess. I don't really remember."  
"You don't remember?" Kennedy looks back with her eyebrows raised in confusion, "I thought people always remembered the bad ones…"

Willow tangled her fingers into Kennedy's and her eyes began to well up. As her throat closed and her sleepiness began to fade she got a sick feeling in her stomach.  
"I don't know… I just have this really bad feeling. Like I had a bad dream but I can't quite put a picture to it. Like I lost someone or something."

"Hey," Kennedy reached up and lifter the redhead's chin up so their eyes could meet, "I'm not going anywhere."

Willow smiled a little half-smile and leaned in to hug her. She squeezed tight in her arms and-

"oo!" Kennedy jumped a little, her body tensing and her hands forming tight, white-knuckle fists behind Willow's back.

"What?!" She pulled away, "What is it?"

"Mmm," she straightened her back, "My back just hurts a little from the fight I guess. Nothing to worry about."  
But Willow wasn't having any of that. She reached around her shoulder and pulled at her, insisting she turned. Reluctantly, Kennedy turned around and let Willow see. From the middle of her back down there was a deep red stain. The tank top she was wearing had a diagonal gash in the center that echoed deeply into Kennedy's skin.

"Oh my goddess!" Willow shrieked, "You didn't feel this?"

"Not until you pointed it out, no… Not really…" Kennedy bit her tongue and looked away.

"You are so lying to me right now!"

"How can you tell?" she slumped.

"You _always_ look over my shoulder when you are lying to me." Willow looked her in the eye waiting for a response. Nothing. "Ugh when we stop in the next town I am taking you to the hospital."  
As much as Kennedy protested Willow was not having it. She knew Kennedy hated hospitals. The smell of generic hand soap, the white walls, the echo in every room. It was too clean for her; made her uneasy.

"I just worry about you, is all. I don't want you to hide things like this from me. I want you to be safe." The witch leaned closer and pressed her forehead against Kennedy's, sighing slightly into the scape between them.

"I know, sweetie," she leaned into her forehead equally, "I just didn't want you to freak out."

"Freak out? Since when do I-" she bit her tongue. She knew the answer.

"How about this," Kennedy grabbed for Willow's hands and held them both tight in hers, "I will always tell you when I am hurt."  
"Deal."  
"But," she continued, "you have to always tell me when you are hurting." She placed a hand over the redhead's heart, silently explaining what she meant.

"Deal…" Willow sighed again and pressed her chest harder into Kennedy's hand.

Without waiting another moment for her pulse to quicken the slayer leaned forward and captured her girlfriend in a kiss. While caught off-guard, Willow kissed back as soon as her heart got out of her throat. She missed the warm, pillowy feeling of Kennedy's lips holding onto hers. They kissed gently at first, their lips slowly parting and rejoining. But Kennedy couldn't hold back any longer. Lacing her fingers into the back of Willow's hair, she pulled slightly, creating a buzz throughout the redhead's body. She slipped her tongue in between Willow's lips and slowly massaged everything it touched. Willow's chest was ready to burst. Her entire body was getting hotter and hotter by the second. She opened her mouth slightly to allow her more room. As she felt the slayer's heat joining hers she grew more impassioned, sucking on her tongue and pulling it into her mouth further. Kennedy groaned relentlessly into her mouth and slipped her free hand around her waist, insisting that she got closer. The feeling of Kennedy's tongue piercing in her mouth set Willow over the edge. She wanted her and she wanted her now.

She reached around and slipped her hand under the slayer's shirt, sliding it around her waist and up her back. The moment she hit the sticky patch of blood the two shot apart. Kennedy winced in pain and Willow brought her other hand to her mouth, covering her gasp.

"Kenn..." Willow shook her head, stammering for words, "I- I am so-"  
"It's fine," Kennedy spoke through her teeth while she straightened her back, stretching and writhing a little. The mixed feelings of being horny and suffering a gaping wound was really starting to clash.

"Baby I really didn't mean to do that. I just was so, you know, and you were just so you and you made me want to do things when you did things and I just-"  
The bus came to a startling halt, cutting the redhead off and letting her babbling go ignored. Kennedy smiled a little at her goofiness and stood up, reaching a hand out to her.

Giles stood up and unlatched the doors, "Alright everyone. It's been a long drive, but being that it is so late we are going to stop in this town for the night."

Buffy chimed in, "We will split the rooms into groups of two and four. In the morning we will grab breakfast and make a stop at a supermarket for some snacks for the road and a few changes of clothes for those of us who need them."

The bus began emptying out one at a time. Exhausted slayers shuffled into the motel lobby with Giles and waited for their room assignments.


End file.
